Pictorial quilts to make you gasp

Last week I shared the Art quilts, which are designed as pieces of art and this week I’m sharing the relatively similar category of Pictorial quilts. The quilts in this category are quilts depicting a scene or a subject, such as people, animals, flowers etc as the main body of the quilt.

Knowing the boundaries of the category really helps, and once you see the quilts I’m sharing today I’m pretty sure you’re going to gasp. Each and every one of them are truly amazing and I don’t even want to start thinking about the number of hours that has gone into each one. Though I’m not sure I’d want a gorilla on my bed…

SHE MATTERS, SUE DE VANNY

SHE MATTERS, SUE DE VANNY

Though it’s amazing isn’t it? More so I think when you look closely at the quilting and its composition. I’ve actually seen this quilt twice now as it was also at the Harrogate Knit & Stitch show, and both times I’ve been wowed by it.

This second quilt is quite different in style and at first glance you could be mistaken to thinking that it’s a simple design, but look again and see the colours flow from pink to blue effortlessly, and the composition of the lower leaves and vases, and you realise it’s not quite as simple as you first thought.

FLORAL ABUNDANCE, JENNY BRADBURY

With a cyclist in the house (clue: it’s not me!) I had to include this one didn’t I? And the blocks of bold colours really work here I think.

POGI, AURORA CALVET

There were a few nature inspired quilts too, this ‘under the sea’ view had plenty to look at when you stepped back, but when you move closer there’s even more to see as it’s made from small hexagons pieced together.

MEERBEDECKT, RENATE KÄMMER

MEERBEDECKT, RENATE KÄMMER

I don’t even want to contemplate the number of hours spent making this one, let alone having the inspiration to even make it.

This bug was cute though with all its blues and slightly less overwhelming to my eyes.

LAURA’S BEETLE, LINDA SMITH

And then there were butterflies perched on flowers with the most beautifully quilted background.

MONARCH BUTTERFLY, INJA METZGER & MARIA SCHATEN

The final two quilts I’m sharing really do fit the pictorial brief, and are worthy of more than one gasp. As I approached the monochrome quilt below, I thought to myself it had a touch of Breakfast at Tiffany’s to it, as I got closer I saw it was titled ‘a beauty from the swinging 60s’ so I was just a decade out!

BEAUTY FROM THE SWINGING 60S, VICTORIA MILLER

But I hope you’ve saved some gasps, as you’ll need it for this one. It’s so good it doesn’t look as if it’s been sewn together, but painted - and just look at the detail on the frame alone.

A WIND FROM THE NORTH, ANDREA LEA MCVEY

It’s no surprise though that this quilt was voted the Visitor’s Choice Winner, and thoroughly deserved. It really is in a class of its own, and not something I’m ever likely to attempt!

Striking Art quilts

At the Festival of Quilts there were several categories that seemed quite similar to me, for example an Art quilt and a Pictorial quilt, but each category has clearly defined boundaries which also include what the judges are looking for.

So in case you were wondering an art quilt is ‘a quilt designed to be displayed as artwork’ and which communicates ‘an idea, emotion or concept’ with its textiles and stitching. It has to be an original design with a strong visual impact and non-traditional fabrics and construction methods are encouraged. Whereas a pictorial quilt depicts a scene or subject, so now we both know!

The quilts I’m sharing today - my favourites from this category - definitely meet the strong visual impact criteria. It’s also probably no surprise that I’m starting with a garden related quilt with a strong, positive message.

BUILD WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN, JOHN J COLE-MORGAN, FESTIVAL OF QUILTS 2025

BUILD WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN, JOHN J COLE-MORGAN, FESTIVAL OF QUILTS 2025

Isn’t it wonderful? Simple, yet complex and definitely strong.

BE PATIENT DIY QUILT, PIA TØNNESEN, FESTIVAL OF QUILTS 2025

I love the colours, the lettering and the quilting on this one. It’s completely different to the first one but yet still meets that criteria.

This next one is just fascinating, the colour palette is obviously monochrome, but it’s the textures for me on this one - and it’s clearly not one for your bed is it?

SOMNAMBULIST SERIES, JOSEPH KOPIEL, FESTIVAL OF QUILTS 2025

SOMNAMBULIST SERIES, JOSEPH KOPIEL, FESTIVAL OF QUILTS 2025

A Somnambulist can be what’s more often known as sleepwalking, and knowing that it does give a different perspective and interpretation - and like lots of art, often each of us will see it and react differently, and that’s ok.

This next one is different again, but again it’s the textures in this one for me - and the sparkles!

IRENE’S PICNIC, ANJA GEBLER, FESTIVAL OF QUILTS 2025

IRENE’S PICNIC, ANJA GEBLER, FESTIVAL OF QUILTS 2025

I am rather partial to a sequin, and a sequinned beetle just as much as those embroidered insects I saw many years ago at another show.

It was the colours and all those half square triangles that drew my attention to this quilt, and there’s definitely truth in the message.

KILLING OTHERS WILL NOT BRING BACK THE DEAD, ALISON BLACKBURN, FESTIVAL OF QUILTS 2025

There’s clearly a lot of work in all of these quilts, in fact in any quilt and it was great to be able to see these up close first hand - and I’m already looking forward to seeing the quilts in this category at this year’s show.

If you enjoyed this post from my visit to the Festival of Quilts 2025 then please do check out my other posts from the show. Even though my mind was blown by the sheer volume of quilts on display, I’ve booked to go again - just for the day - this year.

My quilt plans for 2026

I do like a list, and so once again I’m setting out my quilting plans for this year. After setting out my plans for 2025 I’ve learnt it’s a good way to keep me (broadly) on track, and to remind me of the things I actually want to achieve and sew throughout the year.

Last year I also learnt that sometimes my list might be a little too long and ambitious, but that once I’ve set myself a challenge (ahem stretch project I’m looking at you) then I’m loathed to quit. I also know that while I will still sew charity quilts, I won’t be doing one a month this year as there’s so much more I want to sew.

I still have a long list…

There are always ideas and projects bubbling about my head, and often my craft room, and it’s still hard to turn down a beautiful quilt, but I’m trying to keep this list as achievable as I can (for a change), though even now I think I may be adding to what I thought was my agreed in my head list. Oops.

I’m also including the quilts from last year which I didn’t get to (with updates since my quilty update in early February), and I’m ok with that as they are still quilts I want to make, so here goes…

1. The teal flying geese

It was on the list last year and it’s here again this year. I have the fabric, and still love it all, and the idea of a flying geese quilt despite patchworking friends raising their eyebrows a notch or two whenever I mention it.

While I tested making many flying geese blocks in my first charity quilt, I didn’t find the method completely foolproof. I knew I had some flying geese rulers on my pegboard which I’d never used, so I’ve recently set myself a challenge to master these - and I have (I’ll share how I got on with these in a post hopefully next week), so now I think this quilt will be an absolute starter (and hopefully finisher) this year.

2. The jeans and pyjamas

Another one that remains from last year, and I think once it gets cut out then it’ll happen fairly quickly. I’m still planning to use old jeans and pyjamas for this, and its purpose will be to live in the back of my car. I’ve a feeling that this could be a condensed project for when I get a block of time to myself, and maybe secretly (or not so secretly now!) I’m willing that to happen.

3. My floral fancy

I still need my cutting boards back, but I also need a small collection of green fabrics and some more hours in the day. If I could get this central panel appliquéd I think I’d give myself a lot more confidence for starting the surrounding blocks.

4. My English Paper Piecing (EPP) blue diamonds

This was always a long term, slow sewing project - and let’s be fair it hasn’t disappointed! It remains on the list for this year as it’s always handy to have a hand sewing patchwork project to take to my patchwork group if needed.

5. Scrappy houses charity quilts

For this year’s charity quilts I’ve decided to make use of the scraps of fabric I already have, and those which I will create as I continue to sew this year. I’ve found a really cute ‘village’ quilt pattern by Sherri on A Quilting Life which I will use for these quilts, and I’ve already started to assemble my houses.

My biscuit tin of scraps cut to size is working well for me, I’m finding that knowing what size to cut scraps is a great discipline - and it means I’ll always have a project to grab and go to either of my sewing or patchwork group meetings.

I haven’t yet worked out how many houses I need in my village for each charity quilt, but I don’t think I’m that far off finding out. This year I’m not setting a number for how many charity quilts I’ll make, as I discovered last year by doing that I set myself a challenge which I didn’t want to not meet.

6. Wonderland meets Moda

This one is new for this year, and as ever it’s not quite as straightforward as it might be which you may have guessed by its name.

For a while now I’ve had the Alice’s Wonderland Sampler Quilt book, which contains ‘100 quilt blocks to improve your sewing skills’ and it’s a gorgeous book, which will result in a gorgeous quilt. The blocks in the book use 100 Liberty Tana Lawn fabrics, and there are kits available to make the quilt, and I know they are stunning.

However I’m not one for taking the easy route and while I like Liberty fabric, I much prefer bolder designs. At last year’s Festival of Quilts Show I picked up a ‘Petunia’ fat quarter bundle by Moda just because I liked it, and then when I got home I realised I already had a charm pack of the same range - I knewI liked it!

On holiday last year in the US I picked up a couple of fat quarter bundles which also turned out to be Moda (Pivot and Bird is the Word ranges) which also ‘fit’ quite well with the Petunia style, and so I’ve decided to use these Moda fabrics for the Alice in Wonderland sampler quilt, like you do.

I will have a reduced number of fabrics, roughly about half, so there will be more repetition than in the original design, but that’s ok. When I was initially working out if my idea for this quilt would have a chance of working I painstakingly went through all 100 blocks noting when and where the 100 fabrics were used; some are used in as many as four or five blocks, where others are used in just one so I think I can make it work. Or in other words it’s this year’s ‘you don’t know unless you try’ project!

7. Word Star

This is the project that seems to have snuck onto the list at the last minute. It may not actually be sewn this year, but who knows it may be. I’ve recently been smitten by some more fabric - the Type/Ography range by Lori Holt for Riley Blake. Well the smitten bit happened a while back, but each month my to do list reminds me to buy it, or actually my reminder was to buy a charm pack. When I looked the other weekend the charm packs were sold out, which I found more disappointing than I expected, so I looked online for another supplier. All I could find were the 10 inch layer cakes, which were obviously a bit pricier than the 5 inch charm squares.

More searching online found the cheapest option, but something made me hesitate and think on it overnight. I can’t tell you what or why, but I’m so glad I did. The next morning I received an email with a 20% discount across the site from the original supplier who I’ve bought from regularly, saving £25 and postage on the cheapest option I’d found the night before. It was clearly meant to be, so the fabric was quickly ordered and even more quickly delivered.

And it’s just as good as I’d hoped.

I seem to have thing for words on fabric as not that long ago I bought a set of ‘Spread the Word’ fat quarters, which I’m hoping that at least some of will be a good fit with the rainbow of colours I have in the Type/Ography sets I’ve just bought.

I don’t have a firm plan for them yet, but on my long term ‘to make’ list is a Lone Prairie Star quilt, and if I’m lucky then my Word Star quilt may just be the thing. We’ll see.

And one to finish, and more

Of course there is one more, and that’s to completely finish the Mystery Block of the Month quilt. The blocks are made, and the internal borders are cut and I have a plan for the outer borders, binding and even the backing fabric - just don’t ask about the quilting yet!

I also want to do plenty of ‘other makes’ including making myself some more dresses, I’m still thinking about what exactly that list looks like, but having a list for quilt projects for the year worked so well that I’m planning on doing something similar for everything else - watch this space!